Abdulazeez Kolomi told The Associated Press that environmental workers also found some beheaded corpses among victims of a Tuesday night attack on a major highway and Benisheik village some 45 miles northeast of the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.

A soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters, said Thursday that extremists disguised in military fatigues attacked in 20 pickup trucks firing anti-aircraft guns that overwhelmed soldiers using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.